Topic: Ethics & Conflicts

FOIA requests filed by American Oversight prompted the discovery that Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Trump and a top White House advisor, used personal email to communicate with federal agencies on hundreds of occasions, the Washington Post reported on November 19, 2018.

The Trump administration established a policy of separating families and detaining children of immigrants arrested while attempting to enter the United States. After strong opposition, the administration claimed to have ended the policy, but children have continued to be detained. American Oversight is investigating to uncover the truth about how the family separation policy was developed and implemented from the top down.

Records from the Department of Labor's response to American Oversight's FOIA request for records pertaining to the status of the Department of Labor's Overtime Rule from January 20, 2017 onward and a log off associated FOIA requests.

Records from VA in response to our FOIA requesting guidance from the agency to its staff regarding staying at/the use of Trump Organization properties, emails regarding staying at/the use of Trump Organization properties, and records sufficient to demonstrate costs. In June 2018, American Oversight received memos and emails related to expenditures at Trump Properties. These documents primarily exchanges with VA's Ethics Attorneys about whether particular trips/events/expenditures were permissible under ethics rules.

A federal court ruled in favor of American Oversight and eviscerated the Trump administration’s illegal and unprecedented efforts to conceal the Trump transition team’s communications about the Trump International Hotel.

New lawsuit asks the court to order EPA to release records including waivers authorizing Pruitt and Perrotta to spend taxpayer funds on first class plane tickets, along with any communications between Perrotta and his business partner, Edwin Steinmetz, a private security consultant to whom Perrotta steered a $3,000 federal contract to "sweep" Pruitt's office for listening devices.